Pozuelo, J.M., D. Munoz-Mingarro, F. Llinares, T. Dominguez, R. Arriazu, A. Lopez and A. SantaMaria. In Vitro Toxicology of Carmoisin and Amaranto on CHO Cells. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. - Animal 1998. 34(3): 40-A. Part II. Abstract T-1015 [CopyrightÓ 1998 by the Society of In Vitro Biology (formerly the Tissue Culture Association). Permission to reproduce on website by the copyright owner.]

An important aspect of cosmetic products is the determination of their capacity to produce adverse effects, such as irritation and toxicity. The Carmoisin and Amaranto are two colorants widely used and currently marketed as components in cosmetics. This work was designed to investigate the toxic effects of these compounds on a cell line, chinese hamster ovary (CHO). The cells were treated with relevant concentrations of Carmoisin (0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 mg/ml) and Amaranto (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2 mg/ml) and incubated for 24 h at 37 C. Two end points were measured as markers of toxicity, MTT reduction and neutral red uptake (NR). Results of cytotoxicity obtained with both tests were compared and there was an excellent correlation between data. The most sensitive index of cytotoxicity was found in the MTT test. CHO cells were more sensitive to Carmoisin than Amaranto, although morphological variations were not observed. The inhibitory effect of Carmoisin on the cell growth was more pronounced with increasing concentrations and the highest concentration used (0.2 mg/mL) indicated the lowest cell growth. We also evaluated the G-6DH activity and the results show an increment of enzymatic activity with the increase of Carmoisin concentration, not so with the Amaranto. These results suggest that Carmoisin inhibits cell growth and modifies the physiological functions of the pentose phosphate pathway.